Word Study
yew
CIDE DICTIONARY
yew, v. i.
See Yaw. [1913 Webster]
yew, n. [OE. ew, AS. eów, īw, eoh; akin to D. ijf, OHG. īwa, īha, G. eibe, Icel. ; cf. Ir. iubhar, Gael. iubhar, iughar, W. yw, ywen, Lith. jëva the black alder tree.].
- An evergreen tree (
Taxus baccata ) of Europe, allied to the pines, but having a peculiar berrylike fruit instead of a cone. It frequently grows in British churchyards. [1913 Webster] - The wood of the yew. It is light red in color, compact, fine-grained, and very elastic. It is preferred to all other kinds of wood for bows and whipstocks, the best for these purposes coming from Spain. [1913 Webster]" The
American yew (Taxus baccata , var.Canadensis ) is a low and straggling or prostrate bush, never forming an erect trunk. TheCalifornia yew (Taxus brevifolia ) is a good-sized tree, and its wood is used for bows, spear handles, paddles, and other similar implements. Another yew is found in Florida, and there are species in Japan and the Himalayas." [1913 Webster] - A bow for shooting, made of the yew. [1913 Webster]
yew, a.
Of or pertaining to yew trees; made of the wood of a yew tree; as, a yew whipstock. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
yew, n.
1 any dark-leaved evergreen coniferous tree of the genus Taxus, having seeds enclosed in a fleshy red aril, and often planted in churchyards.
2 its wood, used formerly as a material for bows and still in cabinet-making.
1 any dark-leaved evergreen coniferous tree of the genus Taxus, having seeds enclosed in a fleshy red aril, and often planted in churchyards.
2 its wood, used formerly as a material for bows and still in cabinet-making.
Etymology
OE iw, eow f. Gmc
ROGET THESAURUS
yew
Vegetable
N vegetable, vegetable kingdom, flora, verdure, plant, tree, shrub, bush, creeper, herb, herbage, grass, annual, perennial, biennial, triennial, exotic, timber, forest, wood, woodlands, timberland, hurst, frith, holt, weald, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney, underwood, brushwood, scrub, boscage, bosk, ceja, chaparal, motte, arboretum, bush, jungle, prairie, heath, heather, fern, bracken, furze, gorse, whin, grass, turf, pasture, pasturage, turbary, sedge, rush, weed, fungus, mushroom, toadstool, lichen, moss, conferva, mold, growth, alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan, blow, blowth, floret, petiole, pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia, foliage, branch, bough, ramage, stem, tigella, spray, leaf, flower, blossom, bine, flowering plant, timber tree, fruit tree, pulse, legume, vegetable, vegetal, vegetive, vegitous, herbaceous, herbal, botanic, sylvan, silvan, arborary, arboreous, arborescent, arborical, woody, grassy, verdant, verdurous, floral, mossy, lignous, ligneous, wooden, leguminous, vosky, cespitose, turf-like, turfy, endogenous, exogenous, green-robed senators of mighty woods, this is the forest primeval.For further exploring for "yew" in Webster Dictionary Online
